BBC News Cumbria

Mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington says the Duke of Edinburgh was responsible for saving Cumbria-based charity, the Outward Bound Trust, from going out of business more than 20 years ago.

The charity, which is based in Penrith and runs outdoor education and adventure courses for young people, ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s.

The duke joined Outward Bound as a Trustee in 1953, and became chairman, until being given the role of Patron from 1999-19.

The Outward Bound TrustCopyright: The Outward Bound Trust

Sir Chris said the duke showed decisive leadership: "He immediately stepped in and twisted the arms of some of his more wealthy trustees into actually putting up the money that Outward Bound needed to survive, and having done that he stepped in himself and sacked both the chairman and the one running it, and brought in his own people from the Duke of Edinburgh Awards."

Sir Chris, who became involved with the Outward Bound around that time, remembers meetings being held at Buckingham Palace, with the duke chairing them.

"I've never come across a person who chaired a meeting better, I learned a huge amount from him," he said.

"He was firm, he was direct and let everyone have their say but the moment they started waffling or went off the point he firmly and courteously brought them back again. He had a wonderful sense of humour too."

The Outward Bound TrustCopyright: The Outward Bound Trust

• Temperature at 3,000ft: Around 0C to 2C (32F to 36F) in the morning, rising to 2C to 3C (35F to 37F) in the afternoon.
• Winds: Mainly southerly winds, and mostly light but turning gentle later in the afternoon. Gusts around 10mph to 15mph.
• Cloud: Skies will be clear at first, but patchy cloud will build in the afternoon, with bases above the summits around 3,300ft to 5,000ft (1,000m to 1,500m).
• Weather: A bright and sunny start to the day. With a little patchy cloud in the afternoon, but some sunny spells in any breaks in the cloud. Staying dry throughout.
• Visibility: Excellent.
• Freezing level: Around 3,000ft (900m) at first, rising to above the summits for the afternoon.

The author of the Swallow and Amazons series of novels, which are set in the Lake District, has been honoured with an English Heritage London Blue Plaque.

The plaque will mark the Gunter Grove home where Arthur Ransome lived in Chelsea in the early 1900s.

The author, who died in 1967, is best known for the Swallows and Amazons novels, inspired by the children of friends and written while he lived in a Lake District cottage for 10 years.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Sir Mo Farah has sent a message of support to a Cumbrian man who's running 110 marathons in 110 days.

In a video message the athlete called Gary McKee, from Cleator Moor, "incredible".

Mr McKee, 51, ran his first marathon on 1 February and hopes to complete his last one on 21 May.

He is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support and West Cumbria Hospice at Home.

So far he's raised almost £55,000.

A woman hit her head when she slipped and fell while descending the Old Man of Coniston.

Eighteen members of Coniston Mountain Rescue were involved in helping the woman, who had briefly been knocked unconscious by the fall.

She was carried by stretcher and then flown by the Great North Air Ambulance to Furness General Hospital.

Coniston MRTCopyright: Coniston MRT

• Temperature at 3,000ft: Around 0C to 1C (32F to 34F) in the morning, rising to 3C to 4C (37F to 39F) in the afternoon.
• Winds: Winds will be light and easterly, with gusts around 10mph to 15mph.
• Cloud: Patchy cloud at times today, with bases around 2,600ft to 3,300ft (800m to 1,000m) in the morning, rising to above the summits in the afternoon.
• Weather: It will be a dry and sunny day throughout with a few patches of cloud.
• Visibility: Generally excellent, but visibility may become very briefly moderate in any passing patchy cloud.
• Freezing level: Around 2,300ft to 2,600ft (700m to 800m) at first, rising above the summits in the afternoon.

Cumbria's public health director says he'll be watching transmission figures on a daily basis as the county starts to open up to visitors.

With the relaxation in lockdown restrictions on travel and staying away from home in self-contained holiday accommodation, visitor numbers are expected to increase.

Colin Cox said: "The rates of transmission in Cumbria are down to about 15 per 100,000 per week in terms of new cases, so that's pretty low level and we're at the sort of levels we were seeing last summer and the roadmap rules then kept transmission low for several months."

He's reminding people coming to the area to stick to the rule of six outdoors, ensure social distancing and to steer clear of busy areas, encouraging them to visit other areas than popular Lake District sites.

"A lot of the bits of the economy that are starting to open up, and a lot of the people who are perhaps most interested in using them, are those who have perhaps not been vaccinated which is where the risk of great transmission comes in," Mr Cox said.

"We would expect to see if there's going to be a rise in case rates, we'll see that probably not this week but starting to happen into next week and the week after."

BBCCopyright: BBC

Quote Message: If people do stick to the roadmap and stick to the rules I think we can probably get away with what we're doing now safely in terms of the relaxation of the roadmap." from Colin Cox

If people do stick to the roadmap and stick to the rules I think we can probably get away with what we're doing now safely in terms of the relaxation of the roadmap."

• Temperature at 3,000ft: -2C to -1C (28F to 30F) at first, rising to 0C to 2C (32F to 36F) later.
• Winds: Winds will be northwesterly, and light or gentle. Gusts up to 15mph to 20mph.
• Cloud: There will a few patches of cloud around at times throughout the day, with bases around 1,000ft to 2,000ft (300m to 600m) at first, rising to around 2,000ft to 3,300ft (600m to 1000m) later.
• Weather: There will be patchy cloud at times, bringing the odd shower, but in-between these, there will be sunny spells.
• Visibility: Generally excellent, but visibility may become briefly poor in any showers or passing lower cloud.
• Freezing level: Around 1,300ft to 1,600ft (400m to 500m) at first, rising to around 3,000ft (900m) later.

Hardy shoppers braved the queues in temperatures of -4C (25F) this morning.

Non-essential shops and beauty salons can now open their doors in England and Wales, as Covid rules are eased across the UK.

One group of women had been waiting for 40 minutes for Primark to reopen.

BBCCopyright: BBC